The Dawn in a Pallet Night
by Commander Eggnog
Summary: Ash was welcomed home after five years of journeying by all of his friends... except Dawn. Wasn't she out traveling Hoenn with her boyfriend Paul? She videochats with Ash, and they decide to have their own reunion in Pallet Town. How will that go? Pearlshipping oneshot, that's how. My first story at fanfiction, but not my first story ever. Please drop a review! No flames...


It was Kanto, five years after Ash first set out on a journey. He was at his house for what seemed like and odd amount of time, considering he'd never stayed for over a few nights at the same place since first leaving home. There was a welcome-home surprise party waiting for him when he got back. Among the crowd were Professor Oak, Gary, Tracey, and the rest of Pallet Town. Also there were Misty, Brock, May, Max, Cilan, and Iris- so basically everyone he'd mainly traveled with except Dawn. Cilan and Iris were there more to meet the people Ash had always talked about than anything else.

That definitely set him off a bit. They had recently been keeping in touch, chatting over the videophone. There wasn't an immense amount of catching up for them to do, but he wanted to see her nonetheless. Dawn did say that she started dating Paul once, although Ash never saw him during the video-calls, even in the background. Ash was dense, sure, but he still didn't know why Dawn would want to date Paul, if anybody. Paul, the selfish, reserved trainer who released pokemon left and right if they didn't have his standards. They were in Hoenn now, Dawn competing in contests and Paul in gym battles. Ash had delved too deeply into that topic for what it was worth.

Now, almost a week after getting home, Ash received another video-call from Dawn. The bluenette was dressed in her usual attire- the white beanie, the black dress with a miniskirt, and probably the same pink go-go boots. Paul, of course, was not in the frame.

"HEY!" Dawn yelled on the video-screen

Ash choked up a bit, but couldn't help laughing, "Hey. So how has Hoenn been?"

Dawn replied, "Absolutely great! I just got the last ribbon! Sorry I wasn't able to make it to Kanto for the party. I heard you got a warm welcome?"

"Yeah, it was fun. The only possible bad thing about it was that not _everybody_ was there. BUT I could overlook that and enjoy time with the people that were."

"I said I was sorry. So anyway, the reason that I called was that I can visit you Kanto now! The Grand Festival won't be happening for awhile because I'm not a rookie anymore." Dawn knew it was all thanks to Ash for her skill.

Ash instantly lit up, "That's great! So how long until you get here?"

Dawn said to that, "The ferry leaves to Kanto in two days. So I'll see you then! Got to go."

"Will do. See you then." Ash replied. And with their goodbyes, the screen went black. _Always_ _so eager_, Ash thought. She'd probably hung up to start packing already, two days in advance.

**Two days later-**

It was getting somewhat late. That was understandable though, Sinnoh isn't exactly within walking distance. Ash still managed to get discouraged, but he knew better. The sun was setting. Ash was in his living room, waiting. While his mother, Delia, stayed upstairs and let things happen the way Ash and Dawn wanted them to. The Ketchum living room consisted of a large couch, facing the TV, and a loveseat to the right of the couch, and on an angle to the TV. A knock came from the door. Ash didn't have anything extremely special planned, this was Dawn. She, sadly, was Paul's boyfriend. Ash opened the door to an ecstatic Dawn.

"HEY!" She once again beamed at him.

Ash could not withstand another laugh. He wasn't scared. This was Dawn, an old friend he'd gotten along with so well. He still blushed, though, and did nothing to hide it. "Hey, come on in! So what did you feel like doing today?"

"I don't know, really. I just wanted to repay the debt I owe you for not showing up last week." That was slight sarcasm. She didn't truly believe she had to commit to a small thing like that.

"Aww, don't worry. I told you I could overlook that. I could make popcorn and we watch a movie."

"Sure, sounds great." Ash went into the kitchen to make the popcorn. _And romantic..._ Dawn thought. She didn't tell Ash, but she broke up with Paul right before her last video-call with Ash. Dawn was able to originally change the Paul that Ash knew into a genuine person. It turned out he was just shy and had a really good mask to hide it. Whether he was a good person or not however, he and Dawn just couldn't keep it up. She would tell this to him one way or another tonight.

Dawn sat down on Ash's couch, and began to work the TV. However she tried to make it work, the TV screen showed static. This was her first time in Kanto, and things were no less than foreign to her. She did recognize some pokemon, though. Three minutes of Dawn waiting with the loud, annoying static TV passed, and she grew tired. She weighed her options, and decided tonight was the best night. The last seconds of eagerly waiting passed, and Ash returned to the living room with a bowl of popcorn.

"Ash, there's a problem with the TV."

Ash sighed, "You have to set it to a certain channel," Ash did that, "this is the button to mute it," Dawn seemed uninterested, "And this is the button to go to a movie menu." A list of movies appeared on the screen. Some were of famous trainers, some were legends of legendary pokemon, and some were of journeys through different regions. "Take your pick."

"Why can't this be as simple as the Sinnoh TVs?" Dawn complained.

"It was the same way in Hoenn when I was there. Do they have Sinnohian TVs there now?"

"I don't know. Paul and I never really watched TV besides what was being shown already at the Pokemon Centers. And when we had control of the TV, Paul had control of the TV." This reminded Dawn that she was available again.

"Speaking of Paul, I honestly know how you two make it work. Seriously, he's Paul. What's your secret?" Dawn answered Ash's question with a different, yet still valid answer. She didn't answer him with words. Instead, she leaned over to Ash and tickled him for five seconds.

"AHHHAAHAHAHAHAA! What was that for?!" Ash was definitely caught off guard. And again, Dawn decided to answer in a different way. She simply gave him a short kiss on the upper cheek, got up, and walked to sit back down on the loveseat. Upon sitting, she crossed her legs and looked extremely bored. She still paid close attention to Ash, however.

Realization and conflict flooded into Ash. His hand reached up to the spot of the kiss and froze there. _Why did she just kiss me? Isn't she with Paul? How do... How should I react? I don't know what to do... _Ash thought, but the only thing to come out of his mouth was a slow, single, solitary, quiet, yet powerful, "Damn..."

He remained choked up for half a minute, looking helpless and hopeless. Dawn finally decided it was time to get up and leave, because her attempt at love with Ash was a failure. Just as she turned out of Ash's way to get out of the Ketchum residence, he jolted up and grabbed her wrist. This time Dawn choked up a little, nearly breathless. Ash pulled her gently and confidently back onto the loveseat that she got up from just a moment earlier. They were there for what seemed like ages, staring into the depths of each other's eyes while being comforted by the other's arms. It was Ash who decided to take charge of things and lean in for a long, drawn out kiss. The world itself paused to look at the new love. Smooth and passionate, no words, or no other words, needed to describe how things happened that night. Through the whole romantic scene, the only thing that either said was "Damn..." so Dawn clearly knew- that Ash gave a "damn".

_**Author's Note: My first story here at fanfic, please drop a review so I can learn more. No flames...**_

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End file.
